Magni
|appears in = ''God of War'' (2018) }} Magni was the eldest son of Thor and the tertiary antagonist of ''God of War'' (2018). He and his younger half-brother Modi both follow their uncle Baldur in their quest to find and kill Kratos. Norse Mythology In Norse mythology, Móði (anglicized Módi or Mothi) and Magni are the sons of Thor. Magni's father is Thor and his mother is the giant named Járnsaxa while his brother Móði's father is Thor. There is no mentioning of Modi's mother. Both brothers have the same father but different mothers, making them half-brothers. The two brothers are mentioned among the survivors of Ragnarök in the Poetic Edda Vafþrúðnismál. In the Prose Edda book Skáldskaparmál, Magni plays a role in the myth of Thor's battle with the giant Hrungnir. During the battle of Ragnarök when Magni and Modi's father Thor kills the world serpent Jörmungandr their father dies from its venom. Both brothers are among the few to survive the apocalypse, and the two became the new owners of Mjölnir. In the God of War Series Magni was the demigod son of Thor, grandson of Odin, nephew of Baldur and older half-brother of Thor's second son Modi. Together in their youth, Magni and Modi — no taller than shrubs — managed to rescue their father after the almighty Aesir God of Thunder had accidentally got himself trapped underneath the corpse of the Giant Hrungnir, shortly after he had killed him. However, while nobody was looking at the time, Magni and Modi succeeded where everyone else in Odin’s court had failed by effortlessly lifting Hrungnir’s body off of Thor. Unfortunately, the only one to witness the two was Odin’s advisor, Mimir. In the end, Magni was given all of the credit for the deed simply because he was noticed first since he was the blonder of the duo, leaving his brother greatly embittered. Growing up, Magni would be regarded as Thor’s favourite son while Modi would be simply regarded as nothing more than Thor’s second son and Magni’s brother alone. During the Aesir-Vanir War, Magni along with his brother took part in a battle and fought and killed the Vanir goddess Nerthus. ''God of War'' (2018) Magni and Modi are summoned by Odin and ordered to aid Baldur in his hunt for Kratos, after the former's failed first encounter with the Greek god. They visit the imprisoned ambassador of the Norse gods, Mimir, seeking to know Kratos's location and how to deal with him. Unfortunately for them, Mimir doesn't know Kratos's location, and refuses to help them any further, even after Baldur promises to put a good word for him when returning to Odin. They both continue their search for Kratos and track him down to Thamur's corpse, noting that the "hammer didn't fall by itself." Magni eventually finds Kratos and Atreus when he drops to the ground from above while battling an ogre. Tossing the beast's corpse aside, he orders the pair to surrender, to which Kratos promptly refuses, starting a fight. Eventually, Kratos buries the blade of his axe deep in Magni's skull, killing him. Modi is overcome with fear upon witnessing his brother's death and flees. Aftermath Mimir believed that while Magni may have been a minor Aesir god, his death would not go over well in Asgard. Kratos, Magni's killer, fears no judgement but Mimir states it's their vengeance he should worry about. According to Brok, Magni's death will be bad news for Kratos and Atreus if Thor finds out. Magni's father, Thor, indeed became furious upon learning of his favored first-born son's death, taking his anger out on his surviving son, Modi. Thor called Modi a coward for supposedly leaving Magni to die and then brutally beat him. Personality Like his fellow Aesir, Magni was very sadistic and bloodthirsty, as seen when he makes threats to Mimir after refusing to help the trio find Kratos and Atreus. Magni seems to specifically enjoy battle, showcased in his pleased reaction after Kratos naturally refuses to surrender. In short, he does not care what Odin wants from the Spartan and his son, solely desiring a worthy opponent to fight. He and his brother tended to bicker, Magni, in particular, seemed irritated by his brother's brashness. Regardless, the two were still close to a point, and together in battle, the duo was a formidable force. Both brothers also had a reputation of apparently low intelligence, as they were constantly called idiots/fools by a number of characters, such as Baldur, Mimir, Kratos, Sindri, the latter who referred to them as "Thor's idiot sons" and Brok who called Magni a loudmouth. Mimir states that they would do anything their uncle put them up to. Out of the two of them, Magni was the one who appeared to be the smartest, or at the very least, the less impulsive and immature. Also unlike Modi, who expressed distrust towards Baldur, Magni was willing to oblige his uncle's orders due to Thor's own trust in the god. He also smelled Sindri's scent which led to him telling Modi to find him as well. However, Magni's weakness was his boastful confidence. He believed he could easily defeat Kratos and his son, taunting them all the while, eventually leading to his downfall. Regardless, he takes the battle more seriously, considering Kratos and his son as a "challenge" maybe as some degree of respect to Kratos power; comparable to Modi, who shrugged off Magni's comment and referred to Kratos and his son as "an old man" and a "stillborn lamb." Magni also appeared to demonstrate some twisted form of honor as he was willing to give Kratos and Atreus a chance to surrender without a fight but was perfectly (even preferably) willing to confront them when they refused. He also showed blatant disgust at his brother after Modi asked if he could keep Atreus to himself, suggesting that, unlike his brother and uncle, there were limits to how far he was willing to go in his depravity. Another notable factor that motivates Magni, much like his brother although to a lesser degree, is to please his legendary father and prove himself worthy to inherit Mjölnir. Magni was favored by Thor himself to the point where his father would become furious at Modi for believing that he left him to die. Weapons and Powers Magni as Thor´s strongest son was a very powerful demigod, enough to challenge Kratos, although he was eventually overpowered and defeated. * Superhuman Strength: Magni has incredible godly strength, far surpassing that of any mortal or monster. He is strong enough to snap the neck of an ogre with his bare hands and cast its corpse aside effortlessly and was substantially stronger than Modi. Indeed, he was able to contend with Kratos himself, and at no point in the battle did the latter overpower him. The only known beings strong enough to rival or surpass him are his father, Baldur, Odin, Jörmungandr and Kratos himself. It was said by Mimir that when Thor was crushed beneath Hrungnir, no one could lift the giant's corpse off of Thor except for Magni and Modi when the pair were mere children. In terms of physical strength, Magni is the stronger of the two, with Modi preferring to use lightning attacks. * Superhuman Speed & Agility: As a demigod, Magni's speed and agility far surpass that of any mortal and monster, but he was not as fast as Kratos, and this ultimately proved to be his undoing. * Superhuman Durability: Magni is extremely durable, taking extreme punishment from Kratos and Atreus's attacks which he tanked head-on without dodging or even blocking. He could also survive falls from great heights. * Electrokinesis: As a son of Thor, Magni is able to generate electricity and lightning, sending powerful electrical shocks through his sword and others on contact. * Cyclonic Blade: Magni carries a huge broadsword hardened by cyclonic thunder. This sword allows Magni to summon a "Snowblind" together with his brother, Modi; and can also act as a channel for the demigod's thunder and lightning abilities. He uses a reserve grip when fighting with him. Trivia * To date, Magni is quite possibly the first and only known Aesir God to go to Valhalla after his death in the series, considering he died in his battle with Kratos while the others all have technical errors. ** Modi was killed by Atreus outside of a battle. Technically making his death murder. He may've ended up in Helheim as a result. ** Baldur was stated to have ended up in Helheim instead of Valhalla in the original Norse mythology. It's currently unknown if this applies to God of War canon or not. He also didn't die in battle. He died after the battle had been concluded. ** Tyr despite being a well respected God of War, was either imprisoned or murdered by his own father Odin. While he certainly could've made it to Valhalla, it's uncertain if Odin would've ever allowed him entrance there after his perceived betrayal. * His Greek equivalent (in term of being Demigod with tremendous level of strength) is Hercules. * In mythology, his mother is the jötunn Járnsaxa. * Magni's sword design resembles the Mercenary Sword. * Magni's name literally means "great". * During the course battle, the pair of them will shout "ÓÐR BRÓÐIR BLINDR!", followed by Magni striking his sword on Modi's shield, and a tremendous flash. ÓÐR means mental faculties or voice in old Norse. BRÓÐIR means brother, and BLINDR means blind. So, it could mean "brother's voice of blinding" or "brother's blinding voice". As Magni and Modi are brothers, this makes sense, as well as the fact it blinds the target. ** "ÓÐR" often translates to "frenzy" or "fury" when used as an adjective. With this in mind, the chant can mean "brother's blind frenzy" or "brother's blind fury". The snowblind acts as a divide and conquer strategy. Where you'd sperate your enemies to prevent cooperation and pick them off individually. Or create enough dissent between your enemies to create self-destructive paranoia. In this case, the brothers wanted to separate Kratos and Atreus so they can kill them off individually while they were disorientated by the storm. * Possibly due to his Jötunn heritage; Magni is remarkably tall, towering at least a foot over Kratos, who himself is taller than most at around 6 and a half foot. * Magni is voiced (and possibly mo-capped) by Troy Baker, who previously voiced Orkos in God of War: Ascension. ** Incidentally, Baker also played Sam Drake in Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, playing older brother to series protagonist Nathan Drake who was played by Nolan North. North also portrayed Modi in God of War. ** Baker is perhaps best known for his role as Joel in The Last of Us, which many people have compared the latest God of War too, as both feature an older man escorting a child on a journey through dangerous territory. * During the boss battle, if Magni and Modi are far away from each other before initiating the Snowblind then the brothers will share some dialogue with each other. In the first phase, Magni yells "Right! Get ready!", in the second he yells "Always, brother!" and finally in the final third he says "Time to die, freak". * A lot of in-game dialogue suggests that Thor had already considered Magni as his successor due to his favouritism. ** Despite both sons freeing Thor from Hrungnir's body; Thor immediately accredited the act to Magni and Modi's attitude while searching Thamur's corpse implies it wasn't the only time Thor did this. ** After learning of Magni's death; Thor nearly beat Modi to death after calling him a coward. Thor then left Modi to die in Midgard or banished him to Midgard until he avenged his brother. This indicates how Thor believed Magni was a better warrior and believed he was too powerful to die in battle. Whereas, he believed Modi was the weakest of the brothers and assumed Modi had left his better-received brother behind to die to Kratos. ** Magni's character design is also more refinable than Modi's design; which indicated how Thor was so confident in Magni's skills that he ensured Magni got the best equipment or presented his status as an Aesir god. ** The most condemning piece of evidence comes from Magni's weapon; as it was respected by Sindri and appears to have similar properties to Mjölnir, meanwhile, Sindri calls Modi's weapons "a cheap knockoff of my elegant work on their dad's hammer", which suggests Thor wanted to tailor Magni into a worthy successor by giving him a weapon that's equal to Mjölnir or just as reliable. * Magni's chest and back tattoo are likely a reference to "Megingjörð", a mythical belt worn by Thor that would amplify his strength and allow him to wield Mjölnir. * Strangely, Magni's greatsword resembles a 14th-century executioner sword, a weapon that shouldn't really exist inside Magni's time period. Gallery Magni.png Magni2.png Magni photo mode 2.png Magni photo mode.png Magni photo mode 1.png Magni photo mode 3.png Magni photo mode 4.png Magni photo mode 5.png unnamed.jpg|Magni shows up his weapon toward Kratos. Magni.jpg Magni and Modi face up against Kratos and Atreus.png|Magni and Modi face up against Kratos and Atreus. Magni pins Kratos down with his thunder sword.png|Magni pins Kratos down with his thunder sword. Magni photo mode 2.jpg Magni's death.png|Kratos axes Magni in the face with Leviathan, killing him. Magni-CodexSketch.png|Magni (Codex) Magni-visual-development-concept-art.jpg|Concept art of Magni's near-finalized design. Category:Characters Category:Norse Mythology Category:God of War (2018) Category:Immortals Category:Males Category:Aesir Category:Deceased Category:Norse Gods Category:God of War (2018) Bosses Category:God of War (2018) Enemies Category:Demigods Category:Bosses Category:Enemies